Slinky Red Number
by Gabriel Seraph
Summary: Echo is wanted for murder by the CBI, so what will they do when they realize she has no knowledge of the crime, or of who she really is? And what will happen when Jane and Lisbon discover Rossum Corporation's deadly secret? Part 2 of the Red Reality Trilogy. AU for both shows, action violence. Also includes Fang from Maximum Ride.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is a continuation of my Mentalist/Max Ride crossover fic, Prophecy of Blood. While Fang (from Max Ride) will be included in this story, this, the second part of the Red Reality Trilogy, will primarily be a crossover with Dollhouse instead.

R&R and enjoy!

Slinky Red Number

Chapter 1

May 31st, 2020

"Is that her?" Jane asked, looking down at the street below.

Lisbon peered through her binoculars, then compared the woman in the red dress to the photo she had on her phone. "Yes," she said. "Caroline Farrell. Finally, we have her."

"Do we really?" asked Jane. "If she is in fact a brainwashed assassin, we may get more than we bargained for if we try to engage her."

"Speaking of engaging her..." Lisbon pointed down to the street, where Fang had emerged from the building across the street and purposefully bumped into Farrell, surreptitiously injecting her with a tiny needled capsule full of sedative. Farrell continued walking on for a minute before she grew tired and fell to the ground. Nobody gave her a second's glance, believing she had passed out drunk. Fang then lifted her up by the arms and took off into the air, flying Farrell up to the roof on which Jane and Lisbon were perched. Luckily, it being nighttime, nobody noticed the genetically enhanced aberration of nature that was Fang's enormous black wings.

"What do you know," said Jane. "Well done, Fang."

Fang brushed some dirt off his hoodie. "Let's just pump her for information and then kill her already."

"She needs to face justice, you know," Lisbon pointed out. "We can't just kill her." She shot a dirty look at Jane. "You haven't been telling him it's okay to get revenge, have you?"

"Of course not," said Jane. "I don't want anyone following my lead."

"You'd better not," grumbled Lisbon.

* * *

Two miles away, clear across the downtown district, Topher Brink clacked away frantically at his keyboard, trying to activate the remote wipe before Echo could wake up and be tortured by her unknown captors. Adelle DeWitt entered the room and demanded to know what was happening.

"We have, uh, a situation," said Topher.

"How do you know?"

Topher pointed to the screen. "It's situation-y," he said. "Listen to this." He rewound the audio feed from Echo's hidden mike.

"Let's just pump her for information and then kill her already," said a male voice. He seemed to be in his twenties. Probably a private soldier of some kind.

Adelle froze. "Tell me you have the remote wipe ready."

"Naturally," said Topher, typing a final sequence on his keyboard. "Remote wiping...now."

* * *

On the rooftop, Farrell jolted awake with a gasp. "Did I fall asleep?" she asked. Nobody answered. She repeated the question, and only after properly looking around at her surroundings, she backed against the wall with a shudder. "Who are you? What do you want?" she asked fearfully.

"Is she trying to fool us?" asked Lisbon.

Jane looked at Farrell while she held her hands up to her mouth and started chewing her fingernails nervously. "I don't think so. But then she may not have been properly brainwashed lately."

"Brainwashed? What..." Farrell burst into tears.

Fang ran up to her and brandished a picture of Max in her face. "Why'd you kill her, Farrell?" he yelled. "Answer me!"

"Who's Farrell?" Farrell asked. "I don't know any Farrell. My name is Echo. Shall I go now? I fell asleep, didn't I? Didn't I?"

Lisbon and Jane exchanged glances. "She doesn't seem like she's sane," said Lisbon. "What should we do?"

Jane looked down at her. "We'll take her with us," he said. "Maybe when we get her to Sacramento she'll be better. And Fang, no murdering her, please. We need her alive."

Farrell, alias Echo, started crying even harder as Lisbon led her down the stairs and into Patrick's car. "Where am I? What are you doing to me?" she asked.

"We could tell you," Jane said, "but you'd probably never believe us. Would you believe us if we said you're a wanted murderer?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Topher leaned back in his seat after the remote wipe took effect. "That's taken care of," he said. "Now all we gotta do is hope they don't discover the mike."

"Why not?" asked Adelle.

"Because that's the only way we'll be able to track Echo down," he said. "I did try to get you to invest in implantable microchips but for whatever reason you decided it wasn't a good idea."

Adelle rolled her eyes. "Just keep tracking her as long as you can, Topher. Please."

"If you say so," Topher said, watching the progress of Echo's tracker as she was driven up the 5 through the mountains.

* * *

While Jane drove back to Sacramento, Lisbon searched Echo and discovered nothing more incriminating than a tiny microphone wired to the neckline of her red dress. "Hmm," she said. "Who's listening in on us, huh?"

Echo blinked rapidly in fear. "No...why is that on me?"

Fang growled low in his throat. "This bitch isn't gonna tell us anything," he said. "Not until we take her back to her owners."

"Her owners?" Jane asked.

"Rossum Corporation, or whoever it is Roland told you guys about," Fang said. "We need to take her home now."

Lisbon poked at the tiny mike until she noticed a small chip on its underside. "Who says we need to take her home?" she asked. "We could just leave this chip somewhere and lure them into a trap when they come and collect her."

Fang considered. "I dunno," he said. "It sounds like a bad idea. You guys could get killed in crossfire or something. Come to think of it, so could I." He thought about it a bit longer. "Hang on a second...what if I took the mike with me and went separate from you guys? I'd demand to be taken to their leader or whatever."

Lisbon frowned. "Fang, you're only a child. I don't know if I could allow you to just give up your life like that."

"Who says I'd just give up my life?" he pointed out. "I'm much stronger than most children, if you hadn't noticed." Without another word, he took the chip, opened the window, and slid outside, spreading his wings and flying in the opposite direction.

"Tenacious," said Jane, briefly watching Fang fly away in his mirror.

* * *

"For the last time," said Rigsby, "if you're not Caroline Farrell, who are you?"

"I only know one name," she said miserably. "I'm Echo. Where's my handler? Am I gonna get a treatment soon?"

Rigsby stared, confused. "Treatment? So you know you're insane?"

"Insane?" asked Echo. "No. I'm perfectly healthy. Dr. Saunders makes sure of that."

"And where can I find this Dr. Saunders?" asked Rigsby.

"I don't know," said Echo. "Some big city, I can't remember what it's called. Lows Angles, I think?"

Rigsby left the room and made his way over to Lisbon. "I dunno, boss," he said. "This woman seems to be in some kind of childlike state. Maybe split personality? Fugue? Either way, I'd declare her _non compos mentis_, any judge would do the same."

Lisbon sighed. "Well, hopefully Fang will be able to get us some answers on that little mission of his."

"Mission? What mission?"

"Don't ask," said Lisbon. "The less people who know, the better."

* * *

Down in Los Angeles, a tall young man with black hair and dark brown eyes woke up in a dentist-office-type reclining chair with a weird raised headrest that actually surrounded the skull rather than cushioned it. He looked up at an eerily pale-skinned brunette woman. "Did I fall asleep?" he asked.

"For a little while," the woman said in a British accent.

"Shall I go now?" asked the man.

"If you like," the woman answered. She watched the man leave the room and turned to Topher. "Well done, this," she said. "Now could you possibly take the memories and actually read them?"

"Of course, Adelle, boss-woman, chief-tastic pooh-bah," Topher rattled off. "Just need another Active to implant the memories into and we'll be good to go."

Adelle turned to the door. "Got one already. Victor?" she called out, and the door swung open to admit another young man, this one considerably stockier and shorter than the one who had just left.

"Who was that?" Victor asked. "Never saw that guy before."

Topher smiled. "His name is X-Ray," he said. "You guys are gonna become very friendly soon. But first, your treatment." Victor sat in the chair and it reclined backwards before the lights on the headrest activated, and the memories of X-Ray - the boy formerly known as Fang - flooded into Victor's head.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Victor was allowed to get up from the chair as soon as the memories were downloaded. But the moment he did, he bolted for the nearest exit, and leaped into the air repeatedly, yelling, "What the hell did you do to me? Where are my wings?"

Fang, alias X-Ray, turned to an attractive Asian-looking woman. "What's up with that dude?" he asked.

The woman sighed. "I have no idea. I feel awful just watching him act like that. It's completely not normal."

X-Ray nodded sagely. "Poor guy needs a treatment, desperately."

"I've never met you before, I don't think," the woman said. "What's your name?"

"X-Ray."

The woman nodded. "Nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand so he could shake it. "I'm Sierra. Are you new here?" When X-Ray nodded yes, Sierra went on, "Anything you need, I'll be glad to help." She left the room, leaving X-Ray to marvel at the sight of the dark-wood-paneled, two-story room he found himself in. He looked at the glass walls, and was instantly hit with tiny flashes of memory. Memories of a man in a rumpled blue suit, a fat man in a big office, and a beautiful girl with wings like an angel.

Naturally, he dismissed them instantly. These odd images meant nothing to him. He contented himself by rubbing his back, right between his spine. It shocked him how soft his skin was there. _They must have excellent moisturizers in this place,_ he thought.

* * *

Back in Sacramento, Van Pelt looked up from her computer and announced that the tiny transmitter they'd planted on Fang had pinged again. For the sixth time that day, the transmitter hadn't moved from within a building in downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the signal was extremely weak, suggesting that either Fang was underground, or the battery was dying.

"Let's take Echo down there as soon as possible," said Jane. "Perhaps she'll be able to let us in somehow."

Lisbon frowned. "You sure about that, Jane?" she asked. "Chances are we could be walking into some kind of ambush."

"Somehow, I highly doubt they'd see us coming," Jane said, smiling.

"But what about that Prophecy of Blood?"

"Meh," Jane said dismissively. "No point believing some weird corporate mumbo jumbo. It's not real, I'm sure of it. Just some idiocy Roland ter Borcht made up to throw us off his trail."

Lisbon blinked. "His trail?"

"Come on, don't tell me you didn't pick up on his deception," Jane said. "A child could have seen through those lies of his. He acted like he had nothing to do with Max's murder, but I get the feeling he may have more involvement than he wants us to believe. Hell, maybe he ordered it himself. But that's not important now. The important thing is to go down to Los Angeles and get Fang back."

At this point, Lisbon's phone rang. "Teresa Lisbon, CBI," she said as she flipped it open.

"Agent Lisbon." It was merely a statement of fact. "My name is Paul Ballard. I'm an FBI agent, and I understand you've found yourself a person of interest relating to one of my cases."

"What, you mean Caroline Farrell?" Lisbon asked. "Sorry, Agent Ballard, but I don't think she'll be much help to you. The poor girl is completely off the deep end, she'll never be able to testify for anyone. Especially not the feds."

Lisbon could almost sense Ballard shaking his head as he laughed in exasperation. "Testifying is not what I have in mind. I already know Farrell can't speak against the Dollhouse, because they wiped her mind."

"Wiped her...what? And what is this Dollhouse business?"

"My case," said Ballard. "Come find me in LA and I'll fill you in on all the gory details. Bring your pet shit-disturber with you too, he could come in handy."

Lisbon laughed. "My pet shit-disturber? You're talking about Mr. Jane, right?"

"Of course," said Ballard. "We've heard so many stories about him. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's dealt with the people behind the Dollhouse before, he just didn't realize it yet."

"Tell me what this Dollhouse is first," said Lisbon.

Ballard laughed again. "You don't mince words, do you, Agent Lisbon?"

"Seriously, what is it?" grumbled Lisbon. "Government project? Religious institution? Just tell me! I want to know what I'm up against."

"Suffice it to say that the Dollhouse has the government's tacit approval and we'll leave it at that for now," said Ballard. "If you want more, you'll have to come see me in LA." He gave the address to his apartment, and said, "Meet me there at 5pm tomorrow. That should give you enough time to get down here from Sacramento."

"How did you know-"

"FBI, remember?" Ballard pointed out. "Even disgraced agents have access to lots of science-fiction crap."

Despite feeling increasing misgivings about the whole affair, Lisbon gave in to her curiosity. "Fine, we're coming down there," she said, hanging up abruptly before returning to the squad room. "Jane? Echo? We're taking a ride."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Now are you sure this isn't an April Fool's joke?" Jane asked as he, Echo, and Lisbon entered the apartment building matching the address provided by Agent Ballard.

Lisbon shook her head. "Why would anybody make a joke about something like this? No wait, scratch that. Don't get any bright ideas, Jane. I mean it." She looked around at the doors until she spotted the number for Ballard's apartment, and knocked on its door. "Agent Ballard? It's the CBI."

Ballard opened the door just a crack, took a look at his visitors, then closed the door temporarily so he could take the chain off and let them in. "Good, good," he said. "Agent Lisbon, I assume you still want to know what exactly we're up against?"

"Of course I do," said Lisbon. "Why else did we come here?"

Jane, meanwhile, started poking around the tiny apartment space. Echo, not knowing what else to do, followed him around, mimicking most of his actions, including the occasional sniffing of things. He listened to the distant sounds of Lisbon and Ballard's conversation.

"The Dollhouse," began Ballard, "is a secret arm of the Rossum Corporation. What they do is they take people and offer them a huge payday for five years of service, but they don't tell them that they're going to be slaves. The Dollhouse uses some kind of special technology to take people's memories and personalities from them, and from there they can upload any other memories and personalities they like. They've even been able to give people temporary disabilities. Echo here," he said, gesturing to the girl as she continued to follow Jane, "once was made blind so she could infiltrate a doomsday cult down in Arizona."

Lisbon frowned. "Like Jim Jones?"

"Yeah," said Ballard. "Basically, these Actives - that's what the Dollhouse calls their little slaves - can be anything for the right price. A mercenary, a prostitute, a spy. All at the expense of their freedom."

"Wait a second," said Lisbon. "Technology? What kind of technology?"

"I don't really know," said Ballard. "My source didn't give a real explanation. He just said it's a chair with electrodes in the headrest or something."

Lisbon glanced at Jane and Echo. "Sounds like science fiction."

"Remind me, who just found the body of a girl with wings in the desert?"

"Point taken."

Ballard bent down to his coffee table to grab a file. "You've actually had dealings with the Rossum Corporation before, but you probably didn't realize it at the time."

Taking the file, Lisbon perused it briefly and rolled her eyes upon finishing it. "Fremont College?" she asked. "Not that poisoning case. You're saying Rossum did that?"

"By accident, believe it or not," Ballard said. "Of course, the school took the blame for it because nobody can know what Rossum really does. If the truth got out-"

"Let me guess," Jane burst in. "Mass riots, paranoia, everyone killing everyone?"

Ballard nodded. "A polite way of putting it, I guess."

Lisbon approached Jane and whispered, "Still think ter Borcht was lying about the Prophecy of Blood?"

"He's just saying something to justify some evil corporate plan," said Jane. "Excuse me a second..." He turned back to the entrance to Ballard's bedroom, and started sniffing again. "I knew it," he said after a second. "Lisbon, there's something here that shouldn't be." He walked into the room and opened the closet, revealing a small number of potted plants under a single bright blue grow lamp. Jane and Lisbon both recognized the long, thin leaves, so reminiscent of serrated knives.

"Agent Ballard, I really hope you have a genuine medical reason for this," Lisbon said, gesturing to the marijuana plants in the closet.

Ballard stood aside to let Echo enter the room and sniff the weed before she turned away, making gagging noises. "I know you've probably heard this a million times before, but it's not mine."

"That's right," said a new voice, that of a blond man who took that moment to step out of the bathroom. Echo looked up, saw the man, and screamed in fear.

"What the...who is this?" Lisbon asked.

Ballard smiled. "My source," he said. "As it were. Agent Lisbon, Mr. Jane, say hello to Alpha. Echo, I believe you two have already met."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Down in the depths of the Dollhouse, Topher continued to question Victor. "And so Miss Farrell murdered your girlfriend?"

"I thought you called her Echo," Victor growled, his voice deepening the way Fang's did when he got angry.

"Well, yeah. Echo Farrell. And she's a murderous, killing...killer." Topher stood up from his chair. "Cream soda?"

Victor sneered. "No. Thank you."

"Suit yourself," said Topher. He crossed the room and stuck his head out the door. "Ivy? I need a cream soda, on the double! Chop chop!" He returned to the chair on which he was sitting before. "Well now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Victor's eyes darkened. "Where's Patrick Jane? I need to talk to him."

"Well, first you need a treatment, and then you'll be given back to Jeb Batchelder," said Topher. "He's been waiting for you."

"Don't lie to me, you Dollhouse bastard!" yelled Victor. "Treatment, my ass! I know what you guys do here! Where's your boss? Where the fuck are they?! They're gonna pay for what they did to Max! You're gonna rot in hell, you assholes!" At this point, he lunged at Topher, who luckily managed to dodge out of the way just in time and open the door, allowing the enraged Fang-brained Victor to run into the hall, nearly bowling over Ivy as she returned with the can of cream soda requested by Topher.

Adelle joined Topher as he watched the guards intercept Victor and stick him with a tranquilizer. "Oh dear, what a violent personality," she commented sardonically. "Did he say anything?"

"Echo completed her last mission successfully," Topher reported dutifully. He decided to keep the news that Fang had known about the Dollhouse a secret, for now. No need to worry the queen over nothing.

"I think we have exactly what we need, then," Adelle said, rubbing a ruby-studded gold bracelet on her wrist. "Make more copies of...Fang's personality. God, what a name. Where do they come up with them?"

Topher shrugged. "I think they came up with them on their own. At least, that's what Batchelder said."

"Batchelder," Adelle spat. "He's only in this for his own ends. Once he has what he wants, he'll betray us just like he did with Itex. He's a user, and he'll just find some other company to screw over when this is all done."

"Ever the pessimist, aren't ye?" Topher laughed. "Cheer up, Ms. DeWitt. With that many Fangs in hand, Batchelder won't be able to throw us under the proverbial bus that easy. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta run through the wake-up process with a deactivated Doll."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Back in the home office, Rigsby was tossing a baseball up in the air repeatedly, while Cho and Van Pelt studiously ignored him. He soon gave up and got up to leave the room, having just heard that there was a guy in the waiting room saying that a twenty-year-old sci-fi show had somehow stolen his favorite invented curse word. The things he thought were funny usually didn't go over well with the rest of the team, so nobody followed him out the door.

Van Pelt breathed a sigh of relief as he left. "Glad that's over. Any idea where Jane and Lisbon are?"

Cho shook his head. "They said they'd be calling us when they got any leads worth following. Can't imagine why they'd find anything, though. This Dollhouse business sounds like it's gonna go nowhere fast."

"I agree," said Van Pelt, nodding sagely. "Sounds like the stuff of legend, not a real murder case." The words had barely left her mouth, however, when the phone on her desk rang. "Special Agent Van Pelt, CBI," she said.

"The stuff of legend, you say?" asked an electronically-distorted voice.

Van Pelt froze. "Who are you?"

"Someone trying to put a stop to the Rossum Corporation before they initiate the apocalypse foretold in the Prophecy of Blood," said the Voice. Van Pelt realized that the Voice's gender, or even whether or not it was human or machine, was impossible to tell. This served to increase the chill running through her veins.

"What do you mean?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice calm and neutral.

"More on that later," said the Voice. "For now, turn on the nearest TV. You'll probably get a nasty shock indeed."

Van Pelt complied, and as soon as the TV was turned on, she realized something was very wrong, just as the Voice had said. There was a Breaking News banner running across the screen, and the newscaster was talking about some explosion in a high-rise in downtown L.A.

"No," Van Pelt breathed. "Not Jane and Lisbon..."

"No," the Voice said. "They are still alive. They were nowhere near the explosion site. This was intended to take out the head of the Dollhouse, as well as to mark the building you and your colleagues should be investigating. Sadly, I have only achieved one of those goals. Adelle DeWitt is also still alive. But one of her prized Actives is not. At least, so the computer system in the Dollhouse will say now. I'll report to you later." The Voice's owner cut the connection, leaving Van Pelt staring at the TV in absolute shock.

* * *

In Los Angeles, Alpha removed the voice modulator from the phone's mouthpiece. "That's taken care of," he said. "Now, I believe you guys wanted some explanations yourselves?" He spoke directly to Lisbon, as well as Jane, who stood next to her, holding a still-cringing Echo in his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Yes," said Lisbon. "Explanations would be nice. For starters-"

"Oh, excuse me," said Alpha, consulting his now-beeping watch. "Sorry, but my pots need rotating. They never quite grow right without it..." His voice trailed off as he retreated to the bedroom and closed the door. Echo, meanwhile, broke free of Jane's grasp and crouched in the far corner, huddled over and shuddering.

Ballard sighed as he realized the task of explaining the situation had fallen on his shoulders. "Very well," he said. "I assume you know that Echo here is a deactivated Doll at the moment. When the Actives aren't needed, they have their minds wiped down to what they call a 'blank slate' state."

"With the electronic chair thing?" Jane asked.

"Yes," said Ballard. "Even Alpha wasn't quite sure how exactly that was supposed to work. But what we do know is, it's only supposed to upload or remove a single personality at a time."

Lisbon frowned. "And when has it not?"

"Alpha," said Ballard. "He was one of the first Actives, so he, um, had a particularly nasty bug. Turns out, the wipes were never completely clean. Forty-seven times he was imprinted and wiped, always with traces left behind in his brain. Finally, on the forty-eighth pass, he basically had a major mental cataclysm. That's how he put it. Long story short, all 48 personalities exploded into full being at once. It's called a 'composite event.'"

Jane was flabbergasted. "They actually have a name for it? That's awful."

"Yeah, and it was too much for his brain to handle, so he went...erm...haywire." Ballard swallowed. "Attacked the technician, a couple of two or three Dolls. Including Echo. You guys see how she's so afraid of him? Some tiny part of her brain remembered that the last time she and Alpha met, she'd gotten hurt."

"My God," said Lisbon. "And I thought the experiments at the School were bad."

"And what does this have to do with the so-called 'Prophecy of Blood?'" asked Jane.

"Adelle DeWitt believes in this ancient text that was found somewhere in Palestine," Ballard said. "It's not accepted as valid by any of the major religious groups in the area, so we're not quite sure where it comes from. But Alpha knew about it, because one of the personalities he'd been imprinted with was that of the technician, Topher Brink. He's surprisingly privy to all sorts of confidential information Adelle wouldn't want getting out. What it boils down to is that there are supposed to be 36 specific people who get sacrificed some way, somehow, and the world bathes in their blood, and-"

"...everyone goes to hell in a handbasket," Alpha finished as he reentered the room. Ignoring Echo's squeak of fright, he plowed on. "Adelle thinks that by taking people and futzing with their brains like this" - here he gestured to his own head - "she can artificially cause the events of the Prophecy of Blood to come true."

"But why?" asked Echo, finally speaking up.

Jane turned to her. "Why does anyone want to destroy the world? Playing God, I guess. Some more so than others."

Alpha nodded. "Exactly. You've heard what Adelle's experiment did to me. As you can see, I'm no longer so...manic, but I still have to live with this knowledge. I killed people trying to escape the Dollhouse. I broke back in and killed more people."

"But thank God Adelle's experiment went so wrong," said Ballard, "or else we'd never have met and started working together to bring them down for good."

Lisbon sat on the couch, speechless. Jane, meanwhile, asked, "So now I suppose your idea is to storm the proverbial castle and take back what's been stolen." Ballard nodded, as did Alpha. "How?"

"I've already started the plan," said Alpha. "Just a few minutes ago I detonated a bomb that I hid in Adelle's office yesterday. All signs indicated that she wasn't there to get caught in the blast, but that's okay. We'll have more opportunities to get her." He turned to Lisbon. "Oh, and I think you ought to know...that boy you found at Batchelder's place? He got in the Dollhouse successfully. Unfortunately, they've already managed to turn him into one of them."

"You said you got the technician's personality inside you, right?" asked Jane. "So maybe you can get him into the chair and fix his brain, get him right again."

"Then we'd better move quickly," said Ballard. "Who knows how long it'll be before they figure out who he is."

Alpha clapped his hands. "Great! Let's get going! But first..." He stepped up to Echo. "Echo? It's me, Alpha. The same Alpha who wasn't such a murderous jerkass, that is. I know I hurt you, and I know you're not gonna be willing to forgive me. But I don't need forgiveness, I need trust. I know what I'm doing, but if you don't trust me, this plan just isn't gonna work. I need a live Active to get back into the Dollhouse. Here..." He went into the kitchen cabinet and plucked an Oreo cookie from a box. "Eat this. The chemicals inside it will protect you from the mind-wipe. I need you to do this as soon as you get out of the chair..." He rattled off a string of instructions, Echo nodding with each one, until finally they shook hands as a gesture of peace.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" asked Lisbon.

"Somehow, I think it just might," said Jane. "But only because it's so nearly impossible."


End file.
